


The Walking Dead (or, how Frankie heroically saves Grace)

by queststar



Category: Grace and Frankie (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Feels, Domestic Fluff, F/F, Falling In Love, Feelings Realization, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Inspired by The Walking Dead, Older Characters, Sharing a Bed, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-05
Updated: 2020-03-05
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:07:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22925386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queststar/pseuds/queststar
Summary: Frankie wants to watch The Walking Dead and Grace tries to talk her out of it. Because nothing good can come of it and after the burglary, she doesn't want Frankie in her bed anymore.
Relationships: Frankie Bergstein/Grace Hanson
Comments: 8
Kudos: 54





	The Walking Dead (or, how Frankie heroically saves Grace)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Thewhitestars](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thewhitestars/gifts).



> (Happy birthday, love! <3)
> 
> For the people who DO watch The Walking Dead - there are short summaries and spoilers up until the end of season 9!

“Frances, are you  _ sure  _ this is a good idea?” Grace eyes her skeptically because she knows nothing good is going to come from this. It’s not the first time she’s seen this happening, and it will probably not be the last time either, and she knows Frankie is stubborn as  _ hell _ but she can’t help to try and talk her best friend out of it.

“Stop patronizing me,” Frankie says, glaring back. 

“I’m not patronizing you,” Grace retorts, “It’s just that I know how you can get. You know, you hide under a table when an earthquake hits. You slept in my bed for  _ days _ after the burglary, remember? I just don’t want that to happen again when you get too scared about this.”

Frankie hums, remembering the burglary vividly. “Hm, yes, I did like sleeping with you though.” Her eyes twinkle at the memory and she winks at her friend. Grace’s heart somersaults, but she ignores it.

“Well I didn’t like it, because I need my space and you’re a cuddler,” Grace huffs, folding her arms in front of her chest defensively. “I strongly advise against you doing this,” she adds with a slightly elevated voice, getting back to the subject.

“The break-in and the earthquake were completely different situations, Grace. Those things were very real. This is not, it’s made up. I’m not saying that things like this will never happen because the world is crazy, but you know, if it does, at least I’ll be prepared.” Frankie folds her arms as well, imitating her friend. “And if it happens, you know, I can protect you. At least I’ll know how.”

She whirls around even before Grace opens her mouth to protest and continues: “Besides, it’s also very psychological, you know? I mean, do you know what you’d do when the apocalypse hits? I sure as hell don’t, so it’s good research material.”

“I’m just saying, Frankie, that I’ve heard that it’s pretty gruesome,” Grace tries again, because she’s done some research on the matter after Frankie first professed this interest a few days ago, “There will be a lot of blood, gore, pain, misery and death besides…  _ you _ already cry when a telemarketer calls and tells you a sob story about snow leopards.” 

But Frankie won’t have it. She marches out of the beach house to her studio, and shouts over her shoulder: “I’m not a child anymore, Grace Hanson. If I want to watch “The Walking Dead” with Coyote, I’m going to watch it with Coyote. From start to finish.”

Grace lifts her hands in the air in a gesture showing that she gives up. “ _ Fine! _ Don’t come running to me, though!” She shouts after her, “And you’re  _ not _ sleeping in my bed!” And she knows, this is going to all go wrong.

~*~

Except it doesn’t. Over the next couple of weeks Grace hears everything about “The Walking Dead.” How, Rick Grimes wakes up from a coma and he has to fight his way through all of the zombies on his way out of the hospital (which is so unrealistic, because if you’ve been in a coma for so long you are simply not able to walk, let alone fight, and  _ everybody  _ knows that),even how he goes looking for his family in Atlanta on horseback and nearly escapes the zombies there, how he connects with this group of survivors which coincidentally also includes his best friend, his wife and his son. Grace scoffs at hearing that, because really, what are the odds of finding your family after going in a completely random direction (“I would find you, too, Grace, if you were to wake up in a situation like this. Or, maybe not, because you can’t run with that knee so you’d probably be eaten. Or maybe, just maybe, the walkers would be scared of you!” Grace snorts, but likes the idea of a bunch of zombies fleeing from her.).

Frankie told her where the characters travel next, and Grace hears about a farmhouse with zombies in a shed, a girl that goes missing and turns out to be a zombie (“They’re called  _ Walkers _ , Grace, pay attention.”) and after a lot of time in between they end up in a prison which they make into their homes, while the zombies are kept out by the surrounding fences. Typical, Grace thinks, but she has to admire the scriptwriters for turning a prison into a safe haven. 

But of course, it doesn’t last. Rick’s wife dies, and people get  _ eaten  _ and die and people are fighting  _ each other _ now instead of the zombies (“Walkers, Grace!”) and Grace really doesn’t know why people would do stuff like this to each other, let alone watch series about them, and she’s happy that she is not the one watching it during those specific summaries.

Coyote comes over often, but he and his mother are also binging together while being in their separate houses, if you can call Coyote’s tiny house an  _ actual _ house. They Netflix together and put each other on loud speaker phone, so that they can still talk to each other about what they’re seeing. Sometimes, Frankie gets so agitated over a scene that Grace just feels a need to go check on her, but Coyote always catches his mom and before Grace has the chance to step in, they’re already invested in the next scene.

And sometimes, Grace drives Frankie to Coyote’s and they’ll watch a couple of episodes while she visits Mal and the kids (she likes her grandkids more every day). When they got home she knew she would hear all the details on the episodes they just watched. 

Frankie is so  _ invested _ in this. Grace knows how Frankie can be when she’s got something on her mind, but this is different. She’s a… fan, apparently. It surprises Grace, but in a good way. She loves hearing Frankie passionately talk about it all and loves the way her eyes shine when she’s telling her about the summaries. 

Sometimes, Frankie’s just sitting at their kitchen table and she’s going on and on about the episodes that she and Coyote have been watching the day before while gift wrapping the vibrators that need to go out that day. Or they’re grocery shopping and she tells the cashier that oh my goodness, he looks so much like Daryl from “The Walking Dead” and the guy actually takes it as a  _ compliment _ , Grace doesn’t really understand why because she googled him and he looks greasy and unkempt. 

Or they’re having a family brunch and Frankie asks Brianna of all people what she thinks of the Governor, who chops off someone’s head because it’s apparently some sort of metaphor on how you treat people, and since Brianna’s now leading “Say Grace” she must know something about it (Brianna looks as if she sees water burning, hugs Frankie and tells her she loves her to death, but really has to shut up now.)

It’s a little surreal how Frankie’s summaries of “The Walking Dead” are becoming a routine in their day to day lives and Grace finds that the story is actually growing on her. Maybe because she doesn’t actually see all those horrendous zombies and all the blood splatter for herself, but she just has the descriptions in her mind, albeit sometimes maybe a little too detailed.

What’s more, she sometimes catches herself asking for an update. She just enjoys how Frankie lights up when she tells her about the next newly introduced character (“And then Michonne comes walking up with two armless and jawless walkers and she’s all badass with her sword.” Frankie seems mesmerized and imitates the woman’s sword fighting skills in probably a very poor manner), or when she speaks about how sad or surprised she was that one of the main characters actually dies (“I totally didn’t see that coming - Poor Maggie, losing her guy like that!” as she angrily wipes away a tear).

Frankie’s love for the series does something to Grace’s stomach, and it makes her happy to see how happy it makes Frankie. Maybe Grace was a little presumptuous at first, but she will never tell Frankie that. Grace doesn’t even mind that sometimes, Frankie just starts to rearrange their emergency kit for when the zombies (“Walkers, Grace, Walkers!”) come, because she finds it adorable how Frankie’s being invested in Grace’s well-being. Frankie’s even figured out an escape route from her studio, the living room, as well as, Grace’s bedroom upstairs, should the apocalypse hit them any time soon. “I’ve got you, Grace, I’ve always got you,” she tells her after she’s done rearranging and drawing the escape plan before sticking it on the refrigerator. Grace, can’t figure out what it is that she drew exactly and what the escape route is going to be (especially with her bad knees), but the gesture warms her heart nonetheless.

As the series progresses, Frankie doesn’t have any good words for Negan in the months after (but somehow, the villain grows on her), or Gregory, the lame-ass cowardly leader of the surviving Hilltop Colony but she is rooting for Maggie when she takes over command. She’s over the moon about Carol, who has always been one of her favorites since the beginning (“She’s so badass, Grace, that could be us! Or, well, you, because she has a gun. Or maybe it’s me because she uses a bow and arrow. Or maybe we can both be Carol.”) She laughs about a character named Jesus -  _ really?! _ \- and after months of talking about Negan - Grace can tell that Frankie’s getting a little bored with him and frankly, so is Grace because this story arc is taking  _ forever _ \- they catch him and the group he leads, the saviors, disband.

Then, there are more breaks between the summaries Grace is getting. When they reach the ninth season. Frankie has told her about these Whisperers, humans that dress up like zombies (“Walkers, Grace, Walkers, why can’t you remember?!”) and who whisper to each other when they’re in a herd of dead people. She’s heard all about their leader, Alpha, and how she’s insanely keeping her band of people together. Apparently, she’s not afraid to use violence to keep in her leader position “Brianna would probably like her a lot,” Frankie says, one morning at breakfast when summarizing the episode she had watched the night before. 

And suddenly, Grace realizes she hasn’t heard about the tv show in a couple of days. Grace is surprised that she’s actually missing her talking so passionately about it. Things are quiet down in the beach house, zombie-wise. Grace doesn’t really want to pry who is she kidding, she totally wants to, but keeps herself contained for a few days because suddenly, there’s a heap of Ménage à Moi orders that they need to tend to so she decides to wait a couple of days.

But then, she cannot contain herself anymore and asks Frankie, who’s gathering her things to do some weird moon dance celebration on the beach: “What’s with “The Walking Dead”? Aren’t you and Coyote watching anymore?”

Frankie eyes her wearily, because despite her own sharing-is-caring attitude of these last couple of months, she hasn’t forgotten about their very first discussion about the series. Grace has never  _ had _ to ask about it, because Frankie is an oversharer anyway. “Coyote, says that he is done with it.” She then sighs, “And part of the fun is watching together. Everything’s more fun when you do it together.” She almost pouts.

“Well, how much more is there, then?” Grace inquires, and Frankie shrugs. 

“We’re at the end of season 9, I think we only have 2 episodes left.” She casts a half-smile. “It’s supposed to be super scary and brutal,” she chipperly adds and Grace finds herself chuckling because yes, some of Frankie’s descriptions have been brutal, but nothing she can’t handle, right?

Honestly, if Frankie can deal with it without nightmares or hiding under tables or blankets, then Grace is sure as hell can handle it as well and right now, she just wants to make her friend happy.

“Why don’t I watch with you, then?” Gracie finds herself offering and they’re both surprised when Grace reaches for Frankie’s hand (and maybe a bit about the question as well). But it makes sense. Grace knows how much Frankie loves watching it. If this is something that she can do for her best friend, to get that happy smile back on her face (which makes her own belly queasy so maybe it’s a little selfish as well), she’s more than willing to step in.

Frankie narrows her eyes and doesn’t say a thing, waiting for Grace to explain herself. “I-I mean… you’ve talked so much about it that I know the story anyway and it would be a shame if you could not finish it?”

“I don’t know, Grace,” Frankie slowly starts, “it’s not really something you usually watch and it can get pretty intense.”

“I’ll be fine,” says Grace, waving away the comments with her hand. That is all Frankie needs. 

“Great, it’s a date,” she happily chirps, clasping her hands together. “We’ll start tonight and the things you don’t understand, I’ll explain.”

~*~

Frankie tells her a bit about the backstory of the latest episodes that she has watched on her own. Apparently, now that Negan’s gone there’s a new nemesis, called Alpha, who leads a group that calls themselves the Whisperers. Grace doesn’t really understand why and how. “Why would you  _ want _ to be near those horrifying zombies (“Walkers, Grace, Walkers!”) in the first place? And wear their skin like  _ that _ ? I swear, Frankie, if we’re ever being overrun by zom-  _ Walkers _ , we’re going to make sure that at least those skins look  _ good _ on us.” Frankie takes Grace’s hand and squeezes it. “I know you would, and I love you for it,” Frankie tells her with a smile.

The start of the episode is not too bad. Grace misses the first couple of minutes because she’s pouring herself a margarita in the kitchen (“Hurry up, Grace, you’re  _ missing  _ it!”) and sits down next to Frankie after the intro. Apparently, there’s a place called “The Kingdom” and it’s hosting some type of festivities and it looks really nice. This Kingdom is some sort of small, provincial town, with a couple of bigger buildings that apparently are the hubs of the community. The streets, lined with these amazing looking kitchen gardens that apparently feed the entire community, are decorated with multi-colored flag lines. It’s basically a post-apocalyptic setting with a medieval touch and Grace actually likes it. It looks like they’re having a farmer’s market with booths and stands, in which produce and wares are being sold. Grace can easily picture Frankie selling her paintings there, actually. She would fit right in and Grace smiles at that idea.

And people are arriving in the Kingdom with horses and wagons with stuff they are apparently going to trade and some of them haven’t seen each other in a while. 

The King of this self-proclaimed kingdom, Ezekiel, steps on the balustrade of one of those bigger buildings that looks like it’s been a town hall once, and gives a speech of connection and community. Grace is about to mention that this isn’t too bad, especially after she’s witnessed the four communities (she can’t remember all of their names) signing a charter. But then these main characters leave and get in a fight with these zombies and these Whisperers people and Frankie’s brow furrows when this zombie leader starts talking and she says: “Something’s not right.” She blindly grasps Grace's hand and her grip tightens, but Grace can feel how she’s enjoying this at the same time. Grace she scoots a little closer while Frankie continues a little while later when they’re showing a movie in the series and this Alpha leader is terrorizing her daughter. “This is not going to end well,” Frankie hisses, and Grace feels a shiver running down her own spine. 

They flash back to the leader of the Whisperers and Grace feels her insides tense up, as Alpha takes the ruggedly dude who desperately needs a bath (“He’s called  _ Daryl,  _ Grace!”) to the top of the hill, where he watches over an insanely gigantic group of these zombie monsters. The two of them have a talk and Grace is actually scared of this Alpha woman when she speaks about marking the northern borders. “What does she  _ mean _ by that?” she asks, but Frankie shushes her.

It soon becomes clear what Alpha meant with marking the Northern borders and Grace’s eyes are glued to the screen in horror when they follow a bunch of the main characters up a hill, while seeing ten of their friends and family members heads on poles. But their heads are still  _ moving _ and making sounds because they’ve been turned into zombies. Grace is mortified. She watches short flashbacks, as people back in the town wonder where their family members and friends are. “How the hell did they end up there -- no!” How the fucking hell did she end up next to Frankie on this couch? She sees how they break apart, how there’s even  _ kids _ that end up being murdered, and Grace can’t wrap her head around how people would  _ do _ this to each other. 

“Grace, you’re squeezing my hand,” Frankie whines. Grace lets go and puts her hands in front of her face, looking between her fingers when Carol (which she had identified herself with) breaks down upon seeing her step son's head. The backstory quickly follows on how 10 people were captured and taken into the stables, how they put up a fight and how they were murdered to apparently define the border of zombieland. “Holy freaking hell,” Grace screams, tears in her eyes, “It’s- it’s _horrible_! How can you _watch_ this? How can _anyone_ watch this and actually enjoy themselves? And people actually _like_ this? It’s horrifying! Insane!” She feels that her stomach is getting upset, feels like she needs to throw up.

“Think of it as studying human behaviour,” Frankie says, eyes still glued to the screen, but hearing a gulp from the side makes her turn her head to Grace's direction. Upon seeing how terrified and upset Grace is, she quickly wraps an arm around her and draws her close. “I got you, Grace,” she says while Grace buries her head into Frankies shoulder and Frankie presses a kiss on the top of her head. “I’ve always got you.”

Grace refuses to watch more than one episode - what the  _ hell _ was she thinking? Her heart is pounding in her chest and she’s sure that this has cost her  _ at least _ two years of her life - and she all but flees upstairs. She’s upset and  _ done  _ watching this mortifying shit they call a tv show. And because there’s only one more episode of the season to go, Frankie decides to watch it, even though she has to do it by herself.

But Grace can’t sleep. She’s tossing and turning. Every time she closes her eyes she sees the macabre heads on the poles, their mouths opening and closing - Jesus Christ, some of them were  _ kids _ \- and after she finally  _ does _ fall asleep, she wakes up screaming because one of the faces suddenly looked like Frankie’s.

She sits straight up in her bed and looks around in shock and confusion, while the sounds of zombies - or fucking Walkers - ebb away in her head. It’s quiet downstairs so that must mean that Frankie’s gone to her studio, but Grace is frozen in her bed. There’s no way in  _ hell  _ that she’s going to look and see if Frankie’s still here. 

There’s only one option, she thinks, and she reaches for her phone. She sends Frankie a quick message.

No response comes.

A shiver runs over Grace’s spine as she involuntarily tries to remember Frankie’s escape route from her room (because at this point, she really doesn’t care if her knees are not going to hold her). She scoffs at herself for even remotely  _ thinking _ that it can all be true, but the images have firmly nested themselves inside her head and she can only think about how she wants Frankie with her. Frankie needs to be safe, she tells herself, because she’s not ready to acknowledge that she’s acting like this because of a tv show that isn’t real to begin with.

She gives Frankie five minutes to answer - because Frankie texts really slow anyway - but when nothing happens, Grace calls her. The phone rings six - seven - eight times before Frankie finally picks up and Grace heaves a sigh in relief. 

“This is Frankie.” Frankie mumbles, as if she’s being awoken from a deep sleep and Grace is immensely relieved to hear her voice.   
  
“I  _ know _ , Frankie. Are you safe?”   
  
“Grace?” Frankie suddenly seems more awake now. “What’s wrong? What happened? Why wouldn’t I be safe? I was sleeping.” 

“Well, I can’t sleep because of that horrible tv show of yours.” Grace hears the tremble in her own voice and hates it, but she can’t take it back now.

She listens to the sounds of Frankie trying to sit up straight in her bed and then Frankie says: “It’s not real, Grace.” It’s surreal that Frankie speaks these words and not Grace and it annoys Grace immensely. 

“Says the one who adopted a snow leopard over a telemarketer’s sob story,” she huffs. 

She knows it’s a weak comeback and can almost see how Frankie shrugs when she retorts: “At least the snow leopard is real. And since you’re mocking me, I guess you feel better. Can I go back to sleep now?”

Grace doesn’t want to let Frankie go, she’s afraid that the images will come back. “No!” She cringes by hearing her despair, and Frankie takes her time finding an answer. 

“Grace… do you want me to come over?”

Oh yes please, Grace wants to scream and she can’t even begin with explaining the relief that washes over her. “If you want to?” she replies carefully, and smiles.

“I’ll be right over,” Frankie says, but before she can end the call, Grace says: “Keep the phone on. I want you to get here safely and I want to hear it.”

Frankie laughs as she finds her robe, slippers and she leaves the house, all the while talking to her friend and Grace knows that Frankie might think it’s a bit silly, but she’s so grateful that Frankie is not outright laughing at her. She feels embarrassed enough as it is.

It’s not long until Frankie tells her she’s outside of her bedroom (really, Grace is happy that she’s announced herself because it’s quicker than she thought, and otherwise she might’ve freaked out) before slowly opening the door. Grace still sits upright in her queen sized bed. Frankie closes the distance and studies Grace’s face, while dropping the phone at the night stand. “You can let go of your phone, now,” she gently tells her friend. Grace blinks, to make sure that it is indeed Frankie over there and not the horrifying zombie-walker-version from her dreams, she slowly puts her phone away as well. 

“I dreamt about you,” Grace says, while Frankie slides between the sheets, and scoots to lay next to her, wrapping her arms around Grace. Frankie rests her head on Grace’s shoulder as Grace leans into the embrace. “Your head was on one of those sticks.”

Frankie moves, and Grace feels how she grins. “How’d I look? Super scary?”

“It’s not funny, Frankie.” Grace is still a bit shaken even though Frankie being so close really helps calm down her nerves. And she’s only a little surprised by how safe she feels.

“Well, it is a little funny, since you’ve banned me from your bed ever since the burglary,” Frankie retorts. With a small pressure of her arms, she guides Grace towards her pillow until she’s lying down completely, on her back, with Frankie curled around her. Frankie’s always been a cuddler, and it feels so natural. 

“It looked so real. I don’t want to lose you, Frances.”

Frankie’s nose nuzzles Grace’s temple, before kissing her gently. “You won’t. And I promised you, I’ve always got you.”

“Yes- yes, you did.” Grace tilts her head to face Frankie and for a moment they just look at each other, their noses almost touching. Grace’s fear leaves her as she watches Frankie’s gentle eyes staring into hers and her hands tighten around Frankie’s arms, as if she never wants to let go again. 

But she can see how Frankie’s eyes are tired and how she needs to blink more and more to keep her eyes open. “Go to sleep, Frankie,” she murmurs and Frankie smiles a little, before closing her eyes, arms still firmly wrapped around Grace as if she is never going to let go again and Grace actually likes it. Who would have thought, she mused, she kicked herself for kicking her out of bed after the burglary.

Her thumbs caressed Frankie’s arms as she slowly drifts off, and Grace shifts a little to gently place a kiss on Frankie’s lips. “I love you,” she whispers.

Frankie’s smile widens slightly, eyes still closed. 

And barely audible, whispers a few heartbeats later:

“Love you, too.”


End file.
